I knew there was a lot coming my way, but I wasn't prepared emotionally. After my last post, I may or may not have had a small break down that consisted of some girl time on the phone with my best friend, in order to see things clearly. I'm good now, back to my senses, and ready to move forward.
Since my last post, I've contacted three local agencies and spoken with our agent at Love Basket. Here is what I've learned:
Packet II from the Love Basket has yet to arrive, but I knew we needed to have a Home Study done by a local agency because the information is state regulated and our agency is in Missouri, while we are here in Nebraska.
A home study consists of the following:
Background checks for both of us, at the state and federal levels
A local police screening for each of us, including fingerprinting
A physical for each of us
6 hours of interviews with the local agency, including an interview in our home and conversations with Adam and me individually.
The local agency calling all of our references and receiving feedback from each one. Most of our references are married couples, and my understanding is that each person will be interviewed individually.
Possible adoption training (online class, DVD lectures, books, etc.)
I called Lutheran Family Services, Child Savings Institution, and Nebraska Christian Services. Prices ranged from $1300-$2100 and did not include the price of our physicals or fingerprinting. Each agency charges for driving mileage related to our case file. My understanding is each charges the government regulated rate, but I haven't confirmed that fee. All three agencies are in the city of Omaha, so I wasn't worried about this expense rising to high.
Our physicals will be priced based on our insurance coverage and fingerprinting/police screening in Nebraska is $32 per person. Once our fees are confirmed and paid, I will post them on our expense page in section two.
Considering the service I received over the phone, prices, services provided, and accessibility, we have chosen Child Saving Institute. They charge $1600 for the home study and may offer the possibility of making 2 payments, as opposed to all funds up front as usually requested. I am not sure what qualifies a couple for making payments, but the option would be nice, so hopefully we make the cut!
In addition to our Home Study, we will need to read the following books: Raising Adoptive Children and Dear Birth Mother, Thank You For Our Baby. I've ordered both books through Amazon and am expecting them within the week. We may have online training to complete through CSI, but won't be certain until we received our packet and checklist from them. I plan to call CSI tomorrow to start the Home Study process!
The Love Basket requires training of us beyond our assigned reading. Adoptive parents within 500 miles of the agency's office are required to attend a training day. Because we are not in that mile radius, we will be sent a DVD to watch unless we choose to make a trip home for an in-person training day. I was told today that the next training day is booked, but we could attend the following training...in March. If we choose the live option, our packet II process will not be help up. A note will be made in our file that our training is pending, and we can proceed with the adoption as normal. Otherwise, we will be mailed the DVD and proceed as planned. I'm not sure what follow up we may have to do, if any, but will have a better idea once each packet is in my hands. I have been under the impression we will need to write a paper or answer questions about our training, but that may not be the case.
As I type this blog and pull up appropriate links to paste, I've stopped to look through the CSI website a little further. They have a page of children awaiting adoptive families, complete with photos and a paragraph of information. I'm falling in love with a girl named Brittany who looks to be about 14 years old. Adam looked at her photo and listened to me read her bio. He smiled, shook his head, and told me to stop "looking at that stuff." He's a sucker as much as I am for little girls in need. Note to self: stay away from adoption bios unless strongly led to do so by God, an agency, or my husband. We are applying for an infant adoption, but I would open my home to a teen in a heartbeat. I remember being 14, and can't imagine what it would have been like for me to live without parents. My childhood has good and bad memories, but I had parents. And now I'm on a rant about adopting a teenager whose photo I've happened upon within an hour of blogging about adopting a baby. Oh sheesh.
Back on topic: We are looking at the above process taking about two months, possibly a little longer. Some items that can hold up the process are-references making themselves available for the agency to contact (hint, hint, if you're on the list) ;), doctors forwarding results of each physical, and the police department forwarding their information after the scan and fingerprinting. Most of Packet II is out of our hands aside from reading, making appointments, and staying on top of everything else. I'm pretty good at phone calls, and even better at insisting on quick answers....this should go pretty well for us. We shall see...
I've left out details for the sake of keeping this blog entry readable without getting boring. If you have particular questions regarding anything I've addressed in this post or any others, I am more than happy to answer them for you via email or comment.! Of course, if you have my number and have questions, you can call me, too.
Your continued support is appreciated. Our current prayer is still revolving around our birth parents and a unified decision of adoption, and now for our Home Study and Packet II process to go smoothly.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments. Its reassuring that people are interested in our journey and I'm not just humoring myself by keeping track of all of this online. ;) Keep the comments coming!
I'm sure I'll have more information tomorrow....stay tuned.
Showing posts with label prayers for adoption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayers for adoption. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Complete Packet 1: Check!
Where We Are Now:
After spending the weekend in the Quad Cities with our friends and family, we almost left without our tax information! The car was packed, Adam insisted on the 13th "quick run-through" to make sure we had everything. I walked to the door with my razor, lotion, a book, and over the threshold before I yelled, "TAX RETURNS! OH MY GOSH, WE NEED TAX STUFF! GO! GO! IT'S HALF THE REASON WE CAME BACK THIS WEEKEND!" So, on we went...to the home office to gather all financial papers for the adoption. It took us about 10 minutes to gather everything together and I couldn't believe we almost forgot it all. (BIG sigh)
So, as soon as we returned yesterday, we finished the application, wrote our check for the application fee, attached our photo, and went to UPS to have it all notarized. Today, I took the packet to the post office, made sure it was safe and ready to go, and spent the most important $4.33 of my life, thus far.
A million thoughts have gone through my head since my last post. The biggest is this:
Psalm 139:16
"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Jeremiah 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
God knows my baby! I've known this, but it really hit me this past week. We have no idea who our birth mother is, when our baby was or will be conceived. We know nothing aside from the fact that this is where God has called us to be. He planned this process before either of us were ever in the womb of our own mothers. And He knows our baby just the same. This is amazing to me. I've been praying for our birth mother, and also our birth father...that they come to the choice of adoption together, with peace of mind. But it dawned on me, that God knows our baby, too! We can pray for him or her. Regardless of whether our baby is here, forming in the womb of our birth mother....or still in heaven, waiting to be sent to Earth, God knows him or her and we can pray that Baby arrives safely, among other things. I don't have to wait until my baby is in my arms to play my role as Mother. I can start now, and it's the most amazing feeling in the world.
Next Up:
Packet II, which involves a million things. I will list them when the packet and checklist arrive. In the mean time, I know of two books we need to read as part of our training, so I plan to order those this week so that we can get a head start on the Adoptive Parent training!
One of the amazing concepts I have discovered in this process is Adoptive Breastfeeding. Did you know that adoptive mothers can breast feed their babies?! I'm extremely excited about this possibility. I know breastfeeding is a huge cultural issue in the States right now, and am aware that many people are uncomfortable with the topic. For that reason, I plan to track what I learn, but will create a separate page on here for those interested. Anyone not wanting to know the details can still follow our journey without being offended, grossed out, or any other negative feeling associated with breastfeeding women. And I will keep my political views of the whole thing as mild as possible. The way I see it, breastfeeding today (especially at the toddler level) is the new Bra Burning Women's Movement. I don't plan on burning my bras, but I won't be attacking those who do, either.
Thank you everyone, for your support, congratulations, and prayers. For now, the following is at the top of the list of prayers:
-For our birth mother to be at peace with her decision of adoption
-For our birth mother to be surrounded with support from friends, family, and community regarding her adoption decision
-For our birth father to support our birth mother in her decision
-For our birth father to be known, on board with the adoption, and willing to sign away his rights with our birth mother.
-Peace, for all four of us. Peace for Adam and me while we wait, peace for our birth parents as they make their decisions and go through the process of conception-birth, knowing they won't take their baby home with them.
-For our baby to be healthy, protected during pregnancy, born without major complications to Baby or birth mother.
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude, excitement, and the assurance that God has our adoption planned out. I can't imagine how people take this journey without the peace of God. I would be a basket case if I didn't know someone was in control of all of this!
After spending the weekend in the Quad Cities with our friends and family, we almost left without our tax information! The car was packed, Adam insisted on the 13th "quick run-through" to make sure we had everything. I walked to the door with my razor, lotion, a book, and over the threshold before I yelled, "TAX RETURNS! OH MY GOSH, WE NEED TAX STUFF! GO! GO! IT'S HALF THE REASON WE CAME BACK THIS WEEKEND!" So, on we went...to the home office to gather all financial papers for the adoption. It took us about 10 minutes to gather everything together and I couldn't believe we almost forgot it all. (BIG sigh)
So, as soon as we returned yesterday, we finished the application, wrote our check for the application fee, attached our photo, and went to UPS to have it all notarized. Today, I took the packet to the post office, made sure it was safe and ready to go, and spent the most important $4.33 of my life, thus far.
A million thoughts have gone through my head since my last post. The biggest is this:
Psalm 139:16
"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Jeremiah 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
God knows my baby! I've known this, but it really hit me this past week. We have no idea who our birth mother is, when our baby was or will be conceived. We know nothing aside from the fact that this is where God has called us to be. He planned this process before either of us were ever in the womb of our own mothers. And He knows our baby just the same. This is amazing to me. I've been praying for our birth mother, and also our birth father...that they come to the choice of adoption together, with peace of mind. But it dawned on me, that God knows our baby, too! We can pray for him or her. Regardless of whether our baby is here, forming in the womb of our birth mother....or still in heaven, waiting to be sent to Earth, God knows him or her and we can pray that Baby arrives safely, among other things. I don't have to wait until my baby is in my arms to play my role as Mother. I can start now, and it's the most amazing feeling in the world.
Next Up:
Packet II, which involves a million things. I will list them when the packet and checklist arrive. In the mean time, I know of two books we need to read as part of our training, so I plan to order those this week so that we can get a head start on the Adoptive Parent training!
One of the amazing concepts I have discovered in this process is Adoptive Breastfeeding. Did you know that adoptive mothers can breast feed their babies?! I'm extremely excited about this possibility. I know breastfeeding is a huge cultural issue in the States right now, and am aware that many people are uncomfortable with the topic. For that reason, I plan to track what I learn, but will create a separate page on here for those interested. Anyone not wanting to know the details can still follow our journey without being offended, grossed out, or any other negative feeling associated with breastfeeding women. And I will keep my political views of the whole thing as mild as possible. The way I see it, breastfeeding today (especially at the toddler level) is the new Bra Burning Women's Movement. I don't plan on burning my bras, but I won't be attacking those who do, either.
Thank you everyone, for your support, congratulations, and prayers. For now, the following is at the top of the list of prayers:
-For our birth mother to be at peace with her decision of adoption
-For our birth mother to be surrounded with support from friends, family, and community regarding her adoption decision
-For our birth father to support our birth mother in her decision
-For our birth father to be known, on board with the adoption, and willing to sign away his rights with our birth mother.
-Peace, for all four of us. Peace for Adam and me while we wait, peace for our birth parents as they make their decisions and go through the process of conception-birth, knowing they won't take their baby home with them.
-For our baby to be healthy, protected during pregnancy, born without major complications to Baby or birth mother.
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude, excitement, and the assurance that God has our adoption planned out. I can't imagine how people take this journey without the peace of God. I would be a basket case if I didn't know someone was in control of all of this!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)